Forevermore and Still
by Kuronohime
Summary: Due to ominous circumstances and an unwitting wish, Shippo is transformed to his adult forme. This will shift the dynamics between his relationship with Kagome. For now, he can finally be the one to protect her. But what says Inuyasha to all of this?
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: Hey. I've paired Kagome with just about every other male in the Inuyasha universe in my other stories, so why not little love for the Kagome/Shippo shippers, too! (Kagome/Adult!Shippo you creeps!)_**

* * *

The crickets serenaded their song to the humid night of the feudal summer. A faded wind swayed the long strands of hay and made the leaves rustle on a grand old parasol tree.

He stirred his eyes open waking up to a gentle quiver.

Shippo remained still, not giving away his state of awake. He stayed curled next to Kagome who was silently sobbing against his side.

The little fox demon blinked his eyes to get a glimpse of his surroundings. The pale light of the moon revealed Miroku and Sango sleeping with Kirara keeping guard between them across their camp side. Inuyasha was nowhere to been seen.

Shippo had witnessed this same scenario far too many times to quickly piece together that the cause for the quiver had to do with something Inuyasha had done. Or rather, had yet again neglected to do.

A faint smell of salt assaulted his nose and he couldn't fall back asleep.

As per usual the object of Shippo's restless night was her old cheery self by the time the sun was high. Even though her small companion was aware that the salty fragrance had lingered well into the hours of dawn.

* * *

The girl of the future looked tired. The glow in her chocolate eyes was faint. When she noticed Shippo she mustered a small smile on her face.

"Shippo-chan, could you be a dear and catch some fish while we're gathering kindling?" Kagome rubbed soil from her palms and glanced at the small redhead.

"But we just had fish yesterday! Couldn't we just eat candy instead?" Shippo whined and pouted his lips.

Kagome chuckled.

Shippo knew perfectly well his suggestion would be denied, but it was always worth the try. Just for the sake of her smile.

The little forest creek was perfect for catching small fish. Unfortunately for Shippo, those slippery little buggers were fast. His small hands latched on yet another piece of tangled twigs and moss while the pray happily scurried away into the stream.

The clouds gave away to the sun and the mid-day sun shone hot.

He had been fishing for over an hour, with little to show of his efforts. One tiddler and an eel. He cried out frustrated.

"Damn you, Inuyasha! You should be here taking care of Kagome!" He threw the slimy tangle of twigs back to the river and watched how it drifted downstream. He then looked at his petite paws. Too little to get hold of any of the bigger whoppers.

"I wish I was big enough to take care of her on my own. Then she wouldn't need no stupid dogs."

His hands dropped down with a sigh.

* * *

"Ku ku ku kuu."

At his fortress, Naraku was leisurely surveying his enemies through the looking glass held up by his minion, Kanna.

"Ah, it has been a while since my latest greetings to the Inutachi." He pursed his lips into an eerie grin. "How inconsiderate of me." His voice was oozing with malicious pleasure as he talked to no-one particular and caressed the sacred jewel of Shikon no Tama in his slender fingers. His thick and poisonous claw gently sliced through the orb like it was made from charcoal. A tiny fragment was dissected from the jewel. The fragment was pitch black, tainted with his evil reiki.

"Such a pity for his wish to go unheard."

* * *

Still at the creek and ready to give up on fishing, Shippo began picking his clothes back up. He had laid them on the bank in an effort to spare them from getting wet. A low grumble erupted from his chest. He glanced at his meek catch. Hopefully Kagome wouldn't think he was a complete failure. He sure already did.

Shippo grabbed his vest and was looping his hands through the arm holes when he felt a painful twinge on his neck. He instinctively swatted his hand against the back of his neck. The perpetrator was squished under his palm and dropped on the ground. It was a large, purple-yellow insect with large red eyes. It twitched its legs a few times on the ground before going motionless.

"Naraku's insect?" Shippo mused and rubbed his throbbing neck. He sniffed the air to scout for other signs of Naraku. He wasn't alarmed by anything out of the ordinary, but he had a relentlessly ominous feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Something's up. I have to tell the others."

Shippo was about to head back camp, but only after a few steps, he collapsed to the ground. It felt like the ground beneath had given away and he was swallowed up by a boghole.

Hot, throbbing pain invaded his every limb, muscle and vein. A slow fire spawned from inside the back of his neck.

He screamed of the terrifying pain that shrouded him.

* * *

As soon as Kagome heard the scream she instinctively dropped her kindling. Sango and Miroku were not nearby, but she was sure that the scream she had heard was Shippo's. The little kitsune was in trouble. She didn't loiter and sprung to action.

She grabbed her bow equipment and hurried to the place she knew Shippo was at. The priestess approached the small creek at a running pace. She couldn't waste any time waiting or looking for the others. Whatever was happening to Shippo, it sounded blood-chilling and she had to act fast.

When she could see the area where the trees grew more sparsely, she knew the bank was just sort way ahead.

"Shippo-chan!" She called, trying to scan the ground with her gaze. He didn't reply and she pulled out an arrow from the case on her back.

Kagome tensed the string on her bow and kept examining the bank, ready to pierce a purifying hole in any enemy she would came across.

"Shippo-chan! Are you there?" She called again, more firmly.

Something moved in the corner of her eye and Kagome readily aimed her arrow at the direction of the movement.

A slim figure rose from the gourd, groaning audibly. The sun blinded Kagome and she had to squint her eyes from the backlight.

The figure took a couple of shaky steps, but Kagome couldn't make out what it was.

"Stop!" She screamed at the creature. Her fingertips tingled on the feathery edge of her arrow. She sensed it. The shard.

The creature stopped on her command and looked straight at her. It was a young demon, roughly the same age as Inuyasha. His long red hair coated his body like an intense fire against the sun and his emerald eyes popped out in contrast to his ivory skin.

"Kagome?" The young man's voice spoke hoarsely.

The girl tensed the string on her bow. "Who are you? What have you done to my friend!"

The young fox demon wobbled closer to Kagome, unaware of what had happened to him.

"Kagome-chan?" He took a deep breath, not recognizing his own voice. "It is me, Shippo." The kitsune placed a hand on his throat and tried to cough his voice clear. But the coughing didn't take out the coarseness of his new voice.

"There's something wrong…" Shippo stopped mid-sentence and clutched his throat in a state of shock.

Kagome kept her distance and eyed suspiciously the young man claiming to be Shippo. How could he be? It was ridiculous. It must be a malicious scheme, Kagome thought to herself. _Though…_ Kagome loosened slightly the grip on her bow. That man's aura was peculiarly similar to Shippo's. He also wore a similar style hakama and vest. Albeit, the clothes were torn and strained on him. Almost like he had suddenly grown too large for his attire.

"Don't come any closer!" She warned the demon even if she was hesitant to aim her arrow at him. But no matter how innocent he looked, he was in possession of a shard, that was for sure.

The young man hardly paid attention to her as he was too distraught staring at his hands. Large, wide palms that sprouted lean, long fingers ending with razor sharp tips. He straightened his hand out and marveled his forearm. Where it had but half an hour ago been a scrawny twig, now it boasted toned muscles. Soft fur and paws were replaced by more humanoid extremities. The former petite body had stretched to a stature of a grown man and morphed a scrawny torso to a brawny wide chest that sloped into a tight six-pack of abdominal muscles. A fine ginger hair on his arms and legs as the tell-tale signs of post-puberty.

"Kagome." The young man solemnly spoke to her, not in a threatening tone the slightest, simply as someone very concerned. "Naraku did something to me. I... I..."

When his chest began to rapidly fall and rise in an onset of panic, the young woman finally put her weapon down. A wave of concern washed over her. Even if he was not who he claimed to be, she sensed no maliciousness from him directly. He looked genuinely shaken and in need of help.

"Okay. Fine. You need to come with me." Kagome instructed, still trying to keep her voice cool in case he was up to a scheme of some sort. Kitsune demons were rarely evil but liked to play tricks on humans, especially gullible ones. Maybe this was a stunt gone awry with a lower level demon coming in contact with shikon no tama. It had happened before. Not everyone who used the shikon were evil.

The man looked at her, relieved.

* * *

When the twosome arrived at the campsite, the young man immediately headed to the stump Shippo usually claimed as 'his spot'. When the stump was clearly too small for him to sit on it comfortably, he whined miserably and concedingly slumped on the ground next to the stump, resting his arms longingly on the natural stool.

Kagome was placing her equipment back when her older travelling companion, Sango, approached them curiously.

"Kagome-chan! Where is everyone?" She looked at the man sitting on the ground, closing and opening his fists, like he hadn't seen fingers before. Lowering her voice and pointing at the strange man "Who's your new friend over there?"

Kagome nudged Sango further away from "Shippo".

"He claims he's Shippo. And that Naraku somehow transformed him into his full demon form. I sense he has a shard on him. And it seems he doesn't know he has the shard. Or he is a very good liar."

The girls were huddled together and Sango bobbed her head over Kagome's to squint at the foreign man. He sure looked a great deal like Shippo. If she hadn't known better, she could have guessed they were closely related at least. And nothing malicious registered on Sango's radar about him either. But something else did. Sango's cheeks tainted with warmth and she withdrew her neck like a turtle to continue their discussion.

"Okay. We should wait until the others get here before we decide what to do with him. If you feel like you can manage him, I'll go look for Shippo's tracks. Just in case this guy's lying. But I'll leave Kirara with you just as a precaution."

Kagome nodded her head and began moving away, but Sango pulled her back in.

"While I'm gone. For the sake of decency, get him some clothes. I got more than an _eyeful_ of him just now."

The seriousness of the situation diffused slightly as the girls smirked at one another. Kagome knew she could always count on the older woman's rational and quick decision-making.

* * *

Kagome brought the man, _Shippo_ , she explored the idea in her head, to a hut Sango and Miroku used in Kaede's village. Even though Miroku always wore monk robes, he did own some civilian attire as well. For disguising and spying on women, Kagome suspected but commented nothing as she reached to a closet on Sango's instructions. She browsed through the dimly lit closed with her hands.

"You need new clothes at least." She commented to _Shippo_ who was standing behind her back watching her go through different types of robes and kimonos until she was satisfied with what her hand came in contact with. A demure pair of hakama and haori. That'll do. Gladly they were not anything too distracting. Kami only knew what sort of extravagant roleplay costumes were hidden in the depths of this closet.

"We can get you shoes from the cobbler nearby if you'd like a pai..."

Kagome's words died on her suddenly frozen lips and deflated into a shocked wheeze that escaped her gaping mouth instead.

Unbeknownst to her, Shippo had been proactive on disregarding his clothes already.

To Shippo it was absolutely nothing peculiar. He practically spent half his time in the nude with Kagome anyway. Lazing in hot springs and frolicking in fresh spring streams. That woman loved to bathe. He even jokingly once said she must have been secretly a mermaid and not a priestess.

But then again Shippo kinda forgot that he was not in a little boy's body now. Or, not that he forgot, how could he, rather, up until this point he had totally disregarded the idea that Kagome could ever see him as anything but a child. But he was not a child. Not mentally, even though he often acted such way. He was three times her age. And way more mature than that bonehead of a inu youkai that actually was older than him. He liked the shtick of acting like a child because he was rewarded more sympathy and treats that way, but he was not stupid.

For the second and a half that it took to Kagome to tear her eyes away from him and turn around, she had gotten a detailed view of this strange Shippo. All of him. Bundles of muscles human men in her time slaved for years in the gym. Slender powerful hips many women undoubtedly would bashfully bite their lower lips for. And that nest of ginger curls that did little to hide the part that separated men from boys. And oh boy, this man was not a boy. The image still as clear behind her tightly closed eyelids – vivid as if she was still staring at it. So long and thick a shaft it was practically vulgar.

"Oh, god, Kagome! I'm sorry! I totally forgot that I'm... Ah..." His low voice pleaded forgiveness behind her.

"I didn't mean to startle you. Kagome please." Shippo's voice was growing more rueful. The girl obviously feared him, thought him still a stranger.

"It's just me. Shippo. You have nothing to be afraid of. Kagome-chan..."

Kagome handed the clothes to him, crooking her hand behind her back, not daring to turn back around.

"Just. Put them on. Please." She said, eyes still shut close, just in case. She felt the clothes being taken away from her hands and she relaxed her tensed shoulders a bit.

"You are such a kind girl, Kagome... I'll always remember when we first met." Shippo reminisced all of a sudden, trying to offer her some comfort. "I was such a horrible jerk for tricking you and Inuyasha out of desperation, trying to avenge for my parents. I thought that the end would justify the means. But you forgave me. Even when I put you in danger. You forgave me and accepted me into your life. For which I'm eternally grateful. Even though ... Inuyasha _did_ deserve those statues on him."

He unconsciously moved a bit closed when he saw she was listening and she wasn't hunching her shoulders in a defensive manner anymore.

"It's been the best time of my life travelling with you. I've seen so much in my lifetime, not many seasoned and older demon can even start to compete with. I know for a fact there is no other being in my day and age who has tasted Pockys or Ramune." His light-hearted tone grew into more solemn and hoarse even when the things he said were just silly.

"My favorites are rock candy. The same as yours."

Kagome could rather feel than hear his voice closer to her neck. The more he spoke, the quieter his voice became. An odd sensation surrounded them. It was like swimming in the deep water her mom always forbid her to swim in where one could not see the bottom. Now she was diving through that water, unable to see the bottom or the surface. Not knowing which way was up and which way was down. It terrified her into immobilization even though there was that one spec of curiousness that riveted in the suspension. The thing that made people walk on a wire with nothing but certain death below.

"You might feel confused about how I look now, but I'm not a stranger. And you are not a stranger to me, Kagome."

He let the clothes drop to the ground. His brain was becoming foggy with something unfamiliar but instinctive. And the fog was not interested in putting clothes _on_.

 _'She smells different. So wonderful.'_

"When you were 10 years old, your cat, Buyo, was still a kitten and climbed to a tree by your shrine. You got so worried you climbed to rescue Buyo. You didn't know that cats can handle those heights easily and Buyo just hopped down the tree on his feet. You were not so lucky. You twisted your wrist and you got a scar on your chest."

Shippo had moved so close, he was practically pushing Kagome against the closet. He heard a breath hitch in her throat when he placed his hands from behind on her arms that were resting against the door.

His insides had come from a slight simmer to a full boil in matter of few languidly spoken sentences. He felt as if he had just become drunk while breathing her scent in this enclosed little room.

"You can still see the scar." He murmured and took a deep sniff of her hair. _Fear._ It was fear he could smell.

"Under your breast." He whispered to her neck and experienced the strangest urge to bite her there. He fought the desire because he knew he would ruin the cobweb thin allowance he had just build with the woman.

It was not the type of fear one would feel while facing an enemy. Nor the kind one felt when being awoken from a nightmare. No, it was more the kind of fear you would feel when about to jump from a really big height into a lake. Or the kind of fear you felt while playing hide and seek and waiting in a bush, knowing you'd be found any minute.

She was sure it had to be him. It had to be Shippo. Even if by some miracle Naraku or someone else had seen the scar, they wouldn't know how she had gotten it. She hadn't told that even to Inuyasha or anyone else of their small entourage. And no-one besides their little gang knew she was a time-traveler and could name the candies she brought from the future. It was Shippo and yet, not Shippo. This was an adult, grown-man Shippo. As her fear of being beguiled by an enemy subsided, another terrifying feeling emerged in its place. It intensified when his large, sharp pointed hands gripped her writs within them. It rendered her motionless when his breath tickled the fine hair on her neck.

They stood silent, at an impasse, neither able to move.

Shippo wanted nothing more than to grind his hips into the supple flesh of her ass that was just in front of his groin. The though tempting but all the same time impossible to act on lest he'd be surely sending her screaming away.

Another, more potent and overwhelming thought was to turn her around, hoist her up his lap, rip her expensive school uniform into tatters and ruin her right there. Loop his finger through those ridiculously scanty underpants and move them to the side. Then slid his suddenly engorged throbbing manhood into her awaiting little entrance that by the smell of it, was not unexpecting of that prospect.

As more thoughts of lewd nature entered Shippo's head in varying intensities, he suddenly had a smidgen of sympathy for Miroku. Since Shippo hadn't had experienced the true potency of adult sex hormones, he couldn't have imagined the impairment they had on level-headed logical thinking. But now, as he stood there staring down at his rock hard cock, he understood why horny men acted sometimes like raving drunkards. Disregarding what was decent, appropriate or even safe.

He'd have to take care of this thing now, before Kagome would unintentionally let out a small moan or extrude her ass so that it would make contact with his throbbing and oozing hardness and they would surpass the point of no return.

He closed his eyes and took one last waft of her hair, smelling her natural scent mixed with tropical fruits. Then he released his hold on her hands and quickly picked up the clothes from the floor and exited the hut.

Kagome was still propped against the closet when she heard the door of the small house open and close. A gentle breeze drifting from outside felt like a bucket of cold ice water on her whole body. She hadn't even realized how hot the room was compared to the outdoor air. She shivered and let out a moan.

What the fresh hell just happened!?

* * *

 _A/N: This winded up being so long, I decided to separate it into two chapters. Sorry!_


	2. Chapter 2

The now-grown fox demon stood in the middle of the _Inyasha no mori_. His hakama and haori loosely hanging on his unexpectedly developed frame and his bangs obscuring the look on his face.

He peered down on his hardened flesh. This had never happened to him before, the slowly burning fire of need setting his manhood into concretion.

He was helpless and felt inept. A need, beyond his comprehension, demanding fulfillment and he could only stand there and study his depraved ailment. It had something to do with the urge to copulate. The reason why bucks battled in the spring amongst each other. The reason why stray cats yowled into the night. Why the libertine monk constantly sought out for a woman to "bear his child". A primal, carnal, need to reproduce.

Before this day, Shippo had always thought the need was more of a logical urge to continue one's lineage. The realization of one's mortality and want to recreate. But it had nothing to do with logic. It was deeper, more potent than reason.

He knew _she_ had caused it. And he knew she was the only one who could ease him, but he was too baffled and afraid to plea for such remedy. It was left to him to gratify his own body into submission.

He ungracefully took a grasp of his shaft and hissed at the contact. He had held his member countless of times before. While bathing or easing of himself of the need to urinate. But this was something all together different. This was decadent where other times it had been innocent.

He squeezed down hard on the strained flesh. It made him throb.

An unwanted groan escaped his lips.

It wasn't enough, not even nearly.

His hips buckled, thrusted against the circle of fingers, emulating something that was beyond his artless imagination. H e groaned again.

' _Shit_.' He cussed in his mind.

He'd gladly suffer any bodily injury over this foreign torment he did not know how to state.

This was worse than the pain foisted by Naraku's insect. This was a willing pain. Anything debased about it was of his own doing, this volatile desire.

' _Fuck_.' He cussed again and thrusted more violently against his own hand.

* * *

Shippo returned to camp, now sober and feeling remorseful of his previous behavior towards Kagome. He sought for the priestess, fearing reprimands for his earlier wanton actions, but it was something that had to be encountered.

But it wasn't the future girl he first came by. It was the half-demon canine who lazed about the huts their companions currently occupied.

"What the fuck." Inuyasha huffed and his hand instinctively sought out the handle of Tessaiga.

The hanyou spotted the fox demon approaching the village, and a troublesome unease took command over his senses. This strange man smelled of Shippo, Kagome and the monk for reasons he had yet to hear from the girl of the future who, at that time, was unaware of her companions' return.

"Who the hell are you?" Inuyasha growled, violence hinted in his question.

Shippo halted, a confusing mixture of sensations overwhelming him.

He recognized Inuyasha, but could not see any of their other friends around. And Inuyasha was clearly on the offence about him, not recognizing who he was. So, obviously the half-demon had not seen Kagome yet. (And possibly had not learned of Shippo's earlier indiscretions.) But there was something within the young fox demon that riled confrontation rather than calmly explaining the situation of his transformation.

He had always been on a heads on collision with the hanyou. From day one, there was something about him Shippo had intemperately disliked. His arrogance, his uncouthness, lack of reason, foul smell, bad temper and most of all – the way he always treated the human girl like she was a dispensable tool of unwanted necessity. A shard detector, and little else. And yet, Inuyasha teased her with little crumbs of hope of becoming something more meaningful until stomping those crumbs with his foot by visiting that dead imitation of her.

May it had been intentional or not, acknowledged or not, he had brought about that salty fragrance Shippo had smelled on countless nights.

She hurt for him.

"You should know, Inuyasha, it hasn't been that long since we last saw." Shippo answered with mock, lifting his chin up proudly and bearing his teeth in a wide, unpleasant, smile.

"Oh, you must be confused about my current looks." He sneered and raised his arms up to his sides in a fashion to introduce his new form.

"I dunno how ya know me, but I sure as hell don't know ya!" Inuyasha spat and squeezed his hand protectively on the handle of his sword, readying his pose for a battle.

"Is there something wrong with your nose then, _Inuyasha_." The fox demon taunted and dryly smirked when Inuyasha drew his sword out.

He had hurt her and he was about to get into a world of hurt for that.

"I'm not scared of your toothpick, dog-brain."

Inuyasha had hardly time to register the insult when Shippo, using his full demonic speed, had appeared next to him and kicked the sword out of his possession.

The red-haired man who stood slightly taller than his dog demon friend, grabbed Inuyasha by his suikan and snarled near his ear.

"Oh, how I've waited for this."

Next thing Inuyasha knew he was flying into the opposite direction of his sword and that strange demon, feeling soreness in his jaw.

"You fuck." He growled and rubbed his aching jaw as he landed nimbly on his feet, picking up his balance in the dirt.

This guy was strong. Very, _very_ strong. And he was moving in speed where Inuyasha struggled to keep a track of him.

' _Shit._ ' The hanyou muttered in his mind. If that fucker of a fox decided to stop playing and get serious, Inuyasha would be in trouble. Especially without his sword. Inuyasha was not as stupid as he let on, he knew a fox demon would not be a match for him unless his performance was _aided_ by something.

' _Where the fuck is the jewel detector when you need one._ '

* * *

 _ **A/N: I'm aware that this chapter is entirely too short, but I just wanted to keep the momentum going and let you guys know that ALL of my unfinished Inuyasha stories are in a constant active state of being written.**_

 _ **I'm having issues with this story since it keeps wanting to expand from what I initially** **intended** **. Plot bunnies are running havoc in my head and I constantly have to hunt them down and lock them up. :'D**_  
 _ **"You know what would be a cool twis-"**_  
 _ **"No."**_  
 _ **"Hey, but how about if Shipp-"**_  
 _ **"No!"**_  
 _ **"I have an idea, let's make Kag-"**_  
 _ **"NO!"**_

 _ **I have my hands full with The Ages and Between, The Fall into Our Darkness and The Prince Who Didn't Want to Be Loved. As much as I'm inspired, I can't handle more longer stories. I need these little, innocent, short distractions to keep my creative juices flowing, but that's that.**_

 _ **"Yeah, I get that, but just imagine the possibilities of the Shikon-"**_  
 _ **"I SAID NO!"**_


	3. Chapter 3

Kagome and Sango were roused from the conversation they were engrossed in as a thunderous crash, followed by an screeching howl of pain, echoed through the village. The panicky squawks of birds filled the air as they fled in flocks from their peaceful branches.

Neither woman said anything, both dashed out of Sango's hut, whatever weapons they managed to quickly grab in the process.

Another violent smash and a lieu of cusses told them where to head.

Kagome arrived the scene, just after Sango, to witness Inuyasha, bloody and beaten to a pulp, scattered on the ground, next to halfway demolished hut. Shippo stood on the opposite direction, madness and elation twisting his expression. It seemed as if he didn't even notice the two women as he fisted his hands and looked like he was readying another bolt of attack in Inuyasha's direction.

"NO! STOP IT!" Kagome screamed and ran towards Shippo while Sango hurried to Inuyasha's aid.

That desperate plea appeared to shake Shippo back into his senses and he relaxed his pose which had been tensed ready for a bounce.

"What are you doing?!" Kagome snapped and grabbed a hold of Shippo's haori – as if she could truly contain him did he decide to make another serving of minute steak out of Inuyasha.

Shippo watched as Sango hunched over Inuyasha to estimate the damage he had sustained. His earlier triumphant exhilaration shriveled and was engulfed by feeling of remorse as he looked at the expressions on the two women. Kagome was angry, sad, and afraid, he could not only smell it, but blatantly see.

His chest felt tight. Was he any better than that idiot now? For causing everyone to worry. He gently placed his hand on Kagome's arm, not gripping or squeezing, just resting it cautiously lightly there.

"Kagome..." He wanted to apologize, but the words got caught in his throat when the young woman gave him an piercing glare.

A long groan broke Shippo's and Kagome's silent stare. They saw Inuyasha sitting up, with the aid of Sango, holding his head and spitting out blood and gravel.

"Fuck." He coughed and wiped blood off his chin. "Wher'd that motherfucker go?" He blustered and tried to get back on his feet. He growled for his bruised flesh and, probably, broken ribs.

As soon as he had gotten up, he saw his assailant standing next to Kagome, holding her hand in a cozy buddy-buddy manner. The maimed pride of Inuyasha made him neglect his pain as he nearly sprinted towards Shippo. And he would have had Sango not held him back.

"Whatta fuck is that assbreath with a shard doing with Kagome?" Inuyasha snarled and tried to whisk Sango's hands away from the back of his coat. Shippo was taken aback by his words, his eyes briefly widening in shock, but he still pulled Kagome behind his back and bared his own teeth at Inuyasha.

"Inuyasha, stop it!" Sango commanded sternly and took his arms into a militarian-like vice-grip.

"Enough!" She announced, giving Shippo a not-so-friendly stare as an equal castigation with was efficient enough to put out the fire for fighting in Shippo for good.

"Well, at least he seems to be back into his good spirits." Kagome noted sourly and looked at the man in the fire rat robes. This was the first time she had seen him since his latest visit to a certain other priestess.

Inuyasha stared at Kagome, or tried. His other eye had begun to swell close and made seeing harder.

"Explain this to me." He dictated, to no-one in particular. After witnessing that the hanyou was still alive, Kagome's concern for him eased and she felt like she was not in the mood of licking his wounds right now. Not the physical, nor the mental ones.

"Sango, if you will." Kagome requested and turned her back at Inuyasha. Grabbing a hold of Shippo's arm and dragging him away from the scene as she walked away. It would do all of them good to cool down a little while not in the direct line of sight of each other.

As Shippo was being escorted, or rather hauled, away, he stuck out his tongue at Inuyasha for a farewell.

The cusses they departed under were enough to make an average sailor blush.

* * *

When they had trekked of an adequate distance from the village, Kagome veered them off the small pathway in the _Inuyasha no Mori_ and nearly slammed Shippo into a tree.

"Now." She warned him and took a deep breath. "What the hell was that?" She huffed, her coarse language stunning Shippo for a moment. "What sort of idiotic masculine urge did you have to attack Inuyasha like that?"

"I-" Shippo tried to defend himself, but Kagome was having none of it. She wasn't done letting out the steam. The sleepless night in the previous night, Shippo's transformation, the shikon shard, Shippo having the feud with Inuyasha, Inuyasha prancing around wooing dead soul-sucking abominations, Inuyasha being practically indistinguishable from minced meat, Shippo being suddenly a very attractive grown man, Shippo pressing her against Miroku's wardrobe and... It was all too much. Too many things too soon. Her head was a muddled mess. Inuyasha probably had that beating coming – for several reasons, but not like this.

"What you did was just... I know you guys don't have the best track record, but-" Now it was Kagome's turn to be cut short.

Shippo backed her against a tree and before he could reign himself back under control, he found himself exploring the taste of Kagome's mouth.

It was so very confusing being an adult. One moment he wanted nothing as badly as to pummel his fists into the face of another man. Reveling in the violence and show of his strength. The next moment he was powerless in front of a mere human woman and he enjoyed it. He enjoyed every aspect of the way she made him weak.

A hard slap sounded like a grotesque slam next to his ear. The force behind it hadn't been much, but the shrill clap broke the silence of the forest abruptly.

"How dare you..." Kagome panted, the look in her eyes venomous, but her words were out of breath and soft.

And her smell.

A man that possessed even the slightest bit of decency, would leave a lady be, if not sooner, but definitely after getting smacked on the cheek with daggers flying out of the woman's eyes.

But her body smelled like a canvas of flowers that had been rained upon after a long drought. Alive, fluorescent and full of bloom.

His eyes glid to her lips, still moist, quivering. Her chest rapidly rose and fell, a steady blush creeping up the collar of her school uniform to her neck and cheeks. Blood rushed inside her.

He could feel the overwhelming, animalistic response of his own body that echoed hers. His chest began to rise and fall in succession, his blood practically humming in his ears.

No wonder human males were so conflicted about the "mixed signals of women" as Miroku had put it after a time he had been heavy-handedly rejected and Shippo inquired why did he continue to pursue the women even after their initial evident repulsion.

So, Shippo wasn't phased by Kagome's reaction. He tilted his head down again and stole another sample of those succulent plump lips.

This time she let out a little moan and tilted her own head back for a better access for Shippo's mouth. When she tried to once again slap him, Shippo caught her hand mid-air and held it hostage in his own. Pushing her firmer against the bark of the tree, enjoying the soft feel of her body.

Kagome gasped when she felt _him_. Her small cry was muffled against the eager mouth of the kitsune, but Kagome managed to shake her mouth free.

"No. Stop!" She swallowed down the taste of him and pushed his body away.

"I am... I'm not..." The young woman stuttered and stumbled in her words.

"I can't do this..." She breathed. "I... Inuyasha and I..."

A slosh of anger swiveled in his pool of desire. Making Shippo clench his jaws angrily and want to punch the tree next to his fist.

"He's no better. He's been running..." He didn't want to say it. "...who knows where, without letting any of us know his whereabouts. Making you worry."

Why was it so wrong for her to do something Inuyasha frequently indulged himself in?

"I'm not like that." Kagome demurely said, looking the kitsune into his impossibly green eyes. "I don't want to do this out of spite."

Shippo nuzzled her neck and stroked her silken black hair.

"Then don't." He murmured and planted a kiss to her pulse. "Do it for you."

Kagome squeezed her eyes shut and bit down to her bottom lip, trying to will away the small goosebumps on the length of her arms caused by his feathery caresses.

"This... doesn't feel right." She sighed. "It feels unnatural. You're almost like a..."

How exactly _does_ one go from an adoptive child to a lover in a matter of a day anyway? It was insane and felt too depraved to even be questioned aloud. To be voiced verbally, admitting its existence. The mere though of such an oedipianesque situation made her uneasy. Let alone trying to actively be in the said situation.

"Kagome." He groaned, his loins uncomfortably hard which made a sound though process that much harder to execute, but all the more crucial to accomplish if he wished to be eased of his discomfort.

"I know I said I'm no stranger to you. That I'm the same Shippo as I've always been, but... I'm not." He softly explained, sucking the skin on her throat.

"These feelings I have..." He unconsciously grinded his hips against her which earned a delightful gasp and another waft of aroused scent mixed with the forest.

"I feel... a man." Shippo didn't know how to better explain it. He languidly pulled the tail of her school uniform scarf, gently sliding the red piece of cloth down.

"I _am_ a man." He nearly growled, unbuttoning the shirt of her uniform. Kagome was almost impressed how nimble and effortless the movements of his hands were. As if he had had much practice undressing seifukus on young women before.

But the actual truth was that Shippo was more than acquainted with her futuristic outfits. He had seen her undress countless times, and marveled the craftsmanship of her clothes. In the future they had machines of sowing that enabled such precise needlework. Sometimes he had even helped her wash, button and fold her clothes when they had been soiled by demon blood, bits and goo. So he knew how to work his way around them.

It was enticing a thought, Kagome had to admit. She was not the type of woman to have a haphazard folly with a man she didn't know, nor was she the type of woman who would ever even entertain the thought of "friends with benefits". But with Shippo, it was really neither but also both. Best of both worlds type of scenario.

Kagome wrapped her hands around his neck. It was all muscles and bundles of tendons, hard and strong. She stroked her hand in the hairline at the back of his neck. She could feel it, the shard. Just beneath that hot skin.

No matter how she reasoned this to herself, she knew she couldn't go through with it. The mere thought of being with _Shippo_ was... impossible.

She rose to her tiptoes and planted a kiss of her own on his collar bone.

' _This can't happen_.'

Before she could gather her priestess energy to purify and remove the shard, Shippo grabbed her arms tightly and pulled her arms down.

"I know this is because of the shard." He admitted staring at her intensely, making Kagome quail slightly.

"I know my transformation is because of the Shikon no tama." He confessed, feeling sorry. He had wished it could have been something permanent, something he could hold on to.

Kagome moved her arms to cross her chest, blushing and looking away from him.

"I know you will return me to my previous form. I accept that. But before you do..." He wistfully sighed and there was a suggestion of a smile in his voice.

"I want you for this moment."

He knew that once he'd naturally aged to his adulthood, Kagome would no longer... So, this was their only and last chance.

He kissed her again and Kagome began to struggle for air, trying one last time to push him away.

"B-but!" She drew in a sharp breath. "This will change _everything_ between us! We can't go back to the way we used to be after..."

Shippo chuckled and shed himself of his clothes, advancing his own desires for the shock of the woman before him.

"Once the shard is gone, I will remember nothing of this." He reassured her and picked the woman up, hoisting her up on his hips. Neither really knew if it was true or not, but it was the only thing he could offer for consolation.

"B-b-but..." She tried in vain, her mind practically already swimming in the pool of carnal delights.

Lord knew he was gorgeous. That broad chest, rippling muscles, so, so, so very so hard back and buttocks, she noted as she wrapped her legs around him. Essentially sinful.

He continued his skillful maneuvers and the human girl had soon been reduced to a puddle of desire. Wet trails of kisses ran along her neck and chest, his hands quivered on her hips.

"I've never known anything as wonderful as your body." His hoarse confession caressed her womanly pride which had been hurt a many times by an inconsiderate half dog demon. So, she didn't move away when she felt Shippo's fingers on the hem of her underwear.

There was no shame or guilt, not when he so softly brushed all of those feelings away with his hands, mouth and words.

This was an opportunity for Shippo to fulfill his earlier fantasies. He carefully pushed to the side that small strip of fabric that barred their conjugation, that which was soaked with her delicate heat. He poised his hardened member to her bared flesh.

He didn't ask for admittance. He knew she had already wanted him from the moment he had laid his hand upon hers. And there was that certain masculine dominant compulsion. She was his to claim.

He didn't need guidance in something that was in the blood of a man by nature. The act wasn't foreign to him in the sense that he had studied the many animals of the forest. Also he accompanied a monk that overshared.

He overcame her. A sharp pain split her from inside, soon to be dulled by warmth and a strange new sensation.

"Ah!" She cried.

It was like nothing she had thought. To melt into another living being, breath in their breath and pulsate in synchronization. It was beautiful, even if painful.

Shippo whispered into her ear and continued to move rhythmically between her legs.

Thin coat of perspiration formed on the surface of his skin as he struggled to keep her in the most comfortable position considering their surroundings, keep her pleasured while trying to control himself from getting lost into his own desire completely. It took great efforts to master the proper speed and depth of penetration so that he wasn't being too rough with her.

But when her nails dug themselves into the flesh of his back, he abandoned reason and succumbed to his urges. He pounded her mercilessly against the tree, until she wailed and convulsed around him. Sweet release swept both of them away to a faraway place neither had previously been to.

Spent and entwined, they held onto to each other against the tree. Until Shippo gave an mischievous grin and pulled Kagome down with him on the mattress of soil and moss.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent in the forest stream. They played in the water, chasing each other, splashing water at one another. They cuddled, exchanged kisses and from time to time made their way back to the bank to leisurely make love. Again and again, hungry as beasts that had never been fed. Shippo made sure no part of her body went without attention and caresses. Until the sun set and rose again. Then all of their shared moments turned into mere memories.

* * *

Kagome twirled her small jar of shards in her hands, held it against the light, making the purple bits of jewel glow in transparent shade of aster.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry it took me this long (again)!**


End file.
